Thankful Me

  A bright yellow sun sets in an orange sky above mountains and a lake I missed posting last week, though I had a rough draft written on my phone: 1. airport lounges 2. visiting musicians at PDX 3. everyone OK in small plane (an incident at our destination closed the airport for several hours, delaying our arrival home) 4. son picked us up hours later than expected 5. oldest grandchild is now a teenager! 6. oldest son and his wife were able to come for Thanksgiving weekend, as well as youngest son and his girlfriend, and youngest daughter 7. days spent visiting the aquarium, a museum, and a stained glass display 8. snow that waited to fall until after oldest son and his wife were headed home 9. the beginning of the Christmas season 10. John Now on to this past week: I'm thankful for:  1. a haircut. I'm on a twice-a-year schedule, but by the time the next appointment rolls around, I'm definitely ready! (That's probably a sign that I should make try 3 times a year, but le...

  A vintage image of a child pulling a pumpkin in a wagon, with the caption, "Thanksgiving Greeting. A pumpkin I bring you for Thanksgiving Day, With wishes that plenty may e'er with you stay." It's here: the week of Thanksgiving in the United States, when "We gather together" and reflect on "the joy of human love, brother, sister, parent, child" as well as "friends on earth, and friends above." We feast and enjoy the warmth of shelter and good company. Participating in the Ten Things of Thankful is a fitting way to kick off the week.  The Ten Things of Thankful blog hop, by nature of its title if nothing else, encourages us to enumerate (to 10) things we are thankful for, but also is flexible enough to not require an exact count. Also, as Clark has dubbed "hypo-grats," allowance is made for things that wouldn't appear to fit, but provide opportunity to develop an attitude of gratitude. ("What doesn't kill you make...

  13 year old yellow lab, Drexel, looks into the camera It's been quite the eventful week, so let's dive right into the list! 1. Granddaughter #5 (aka grandchild #7) was born on Sunday afternoon. I haven't met her in person yet, but from what I can tell from the photos I've received, she's adorable. I'm thankful for grandchildren. 2. Drexel turned 13 years old on Tuesday. That is in human years, so he is more a sweet old gentleman than an energetic teen. I'm thankful for Drexel. 3. Tuesday was also Veteran's Day here in the United States, which was a chance to remember those who served our country--including both of my grandfathers, who served in World War II. One grandpa was in the Navy in the Pacific, and the other served in the Army stateside as an Army postal worker. I'm thankful for veterans. My dad's dad, in his Navy uniform My mom's dad, making his rounds on his mail carrier bicycle. 4. Also Tuesday, I was able to cross something off m...

  Stock photo of two hands placed upon an open notebook, preparing to write Have you ever attempted to keep a journal, only to realize that somehow your last entry was from weeks, months, or even years ago? The thought of trying to adequately report on the events of the elapsed time is overwhelming. What happens then? Do you ignore the missing days and just pick up from the present? Do you give a perfunctory accounting, or do you painstakingly try to recreate the past and vow to never again get so far behind?  I'm still trying to figure out just which method I will take for this blog, though I'm leaning toward the middle of the road idea of using a few words and photos in reflection, moving on, and calling it good. If the Bible can be as succinct as "And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good." (Genesis 1:10), then surely I can be forgiven for glossing over September and October. The plan af...

  A blue statue spells out "BYU" while the white Y is visible on the mountains behind I've spent the past week at BYU Education Week , which is an event I love attending whenever it works in my schedule. John and I have some upcoming travel plans, so going to Education Week took away from travel prep time, but it was worth it. However, it is crunch time now, so I'm going to jump right into my list: 1. I'm thankful for presenters. Hundreds of qualified people take time out of their busy schedules to teach at BYU Education Week. 2. I'm thankful for walking. By parking in the stadium lot (which was convenient driving-wise), I could definitely get in some built-in activity every day. 3. I'm thankful for connection. I was able to chat with other attendees. I also had opportunities to socialize with friends and family members outside of Ed Week this week. 4. I'm thankful for opportunities to serve, inside and out of Ed Week. Isn't it wonderful that doing...

Steamboat Geyser at Yellowstone just letting off some steam I missed last weekend's Ten Things of Thankful blog hop because I was camping in Yellowstone National Park and didn't have internet connection nor cell phone coverage. (And, to be honest, even if I had had the ability to post, I was enjoying being disconnected from technology and reconnected with what was going on "in real life." And boy howdy, were there ever things going on around us! My husband and I drove up to Yellowstone for a week, hoping to see Steamboat Geyser erupt. It has been 125 days (as of today) since it last erupted. According to geysertimes.org , that is the longest interval between eruptions in the last 100 eruptions, so we were really hoping it would decide to erupt while we were there. No such luck, but what we missed in geysers, we more than made up for in wildlife sightings! (We didn't completely strike out in the geyser front, either. Of course we saw Old Faithful erupt, but also Sa...